Abstract

The article discusses the dispute between constructivists and realists, which is claimed to be losing its relevance. The author tries to show that the presuppositions of the dispute relate to the ancient culture, where the ideal objects first appeared and where the question of their relation to the real world was first raised. In the history of philosophy these relations were comprehended differently, and as a result two opposing views were developed - realism and constructivism. The author argues that in order to get away from the ineffectiveness ofthe opposition between these views one needs to turn to the methodological analysis of the real cognitive activity. In the process of discussing how this turn could be possible the author introducesthe notions of ideal object, objectification, diagram, thereality of object ontology, the cycle of the development a new phenomenon along with two kinds of phenomena - the natural phenomena (in the sense ofthe first nature) and the social phenomena.In the final part of the article the author offers a conceptualization of the Internet as a hand-made and mental creation of man, on the one hand, and as a natural phenomenon on the other. It is argued that the Internet exists not only as a newly created «socio-technical body» of man. In the situation ofthe present crisis it also allows us to maintain and reproduce the social and political life. As a result, it is claimed that the reality of the Internet could be considered both constructive and existential.The author concludes that if we understand the processes of construction and of natural existence not merely as two oppositions associated with one phenomenon, but as two complementary aspects of real human activities, the dispute between constructivists and realists becomes meaningless in the cognitive as well as in the practical perspective.